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Preparing Squid
Appears in
Published 1991
Don’t be alarmed either by the appearance of uncooked squid or by the prospect of preparing them. The removal of the bone and innards is intriguing and, once you know what to do, very easy. It is certainly easier than preparing ordinary fish, and much cleaner and more pleasurable, too.
The most important thing to remember once you have prepared your squid is not to ruin its tender texture by cooking it too long or with too fierce a heat. If deep-frying, the cooking time must be even shorter.
- Rinse the squid well. Cut the tentacles away from the head, discarding the beak-like mouth found in the centre of the tentacles, just below the eyes. Reserve the tentacles which can be cooked with the main body meat or finely chopped and mixed with stuffing ingredients.
- Hold the body of the squid in one hand and pull the head gently with the other hand, which bungs out the innards. Discard the head and innards but carefully retain the ink sac if needed in the recipe – it is pearly coloured with a blue tinge. It is often used in pasta sauces.
- Pull the transparent quill-like bone out from the body pocket and discard. Use your fingers to check for any residual innards and pull out and discard.
- Wash the body pocket inside and out thoroughly under cold running water, getting rid of any traces of innards that may remain. Peel and rub off the purply mottled skin from the outside. Pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Pull or cut off the fins and slice into strips for cooking with the main body meat. Slice the body across into fairly thin rings or leave whole if stuffing the squid. Divide the reserved tentacles into 2 or 3 pieces if the squid are fairly large and you are using them for stuffing.
